American Capital Makes First Exit of 2009

UPDATE 3:49 pm April 16, 2009: American Capital provided new information that this was not their first exit of 2008, as was originally reported in the blog entry below. It was the first exit that the company announced publicly. Sentences indicating number of exits have been updated in the original post.

American Capital yesterday said it sold portfolio company Corrpro Cos., getting $22 million in cash and realizing a gain of $6 million.

Private-equity firms have been having a harder time selling their portfolio companies, as potential buyers have been conserving cash or having trouble getting loans to make acquisitions with.

Corrpro, American Capital said in its statement, is "a leading provider of corrosion control engineering services, systems and equipment to the infrastructure, environmental and energy markets." It was sold to a subsidiary of Insituform Technologies. American Capital said its compounded annual rate of return was 21 percent. It bought into Corrpro five years ago.